Combining glutamine with other amino acids can be complicated. Building your perfect physique requires full undivided attention and competent approach. Usually, simply spending many hours at the gym is not quite enough to get some serious results. Correct diet and different supplements can increase efficiency drastically. Athletes tend to rely on such substances as glutamine, lysine, alanine, glutamic acid, etc. Glutamine is one of the most popular (if not the one most) substances. Can it be combined with other supplements? Let’s find out.
Supplement Properties
Glutamine is a conditionally essential amino acid, which means that some part of it is produced by the body, but the amount is not sufficient for proper development. It is also one of the most important amino acids for muscles, because 60% of those muscles are actually glutamine.
The substance is found in regular food (milk, meat, parsley, spinach, cabbage), special complexes or as a separate additive. Glutamine has following effects:
- It helps in forming of additional proteins and in subsequent muscle growth;
- it improves blood circulation in the body;
- it helps to digest «heavy» foods and complex supplements and additives;
- it strengthens the immunity and improving the body’s general condition;
- it improves the protective functions of the liver;
- it eliminates toxins;
- it normalizes digestion;
- it optimizes metabolic processes.
Peculiarities Of Combined Use
- Arginine is an essential amino acid that improves muscle tone, accelerates muscle growth processes and helps to burn excess fat. Arginine is a nitric oxide donor that contributes to the accumulation of energy and ensures its effective use during workout. It helps to increase muscle volume during training and makes muscles generally stronger. In addition, arginine increases restoration of muscle tissue. As a result of that, it becomes possible to make a few extra reps, which is important for making progress in weights.
Arginine works great together with glutamine. It’s recommended to take them combined at night, which allows for acceleration of growth hormone production, fat burning, immunity strengthening and muscle recovery. Taking this combination helps to protect the liver and ensure the withdrawal of ammonia from the body.
It is important to take arginine in the right dosage. The optimum is 3-9 grams daily. In this case, the dosage of glutamine is about 5-8 grams. There is no need to take amino acids separately. Whey protein already has arginine (about 4.5 grams per 100 grams of supplement) and a serious serving of glutamine (about 18 grams). In addition to taking at night, both glutamine and arginine can be taken on training days – 25-30 minutes before and 30-35 minutes after workout. To increase efficiency even more, it’s worth adding creatine to these two substances.
- Glutamic acid is a powerful neurotransmitter for the body. Its peculiarity is effective stimulation and normalization of metabolism and stimulation of the nervous system. Glutamic acid is actively involved in the production of muscle tissue, provides energy for the body, and is a powerful stimulator of oxidative processes.
For most athletes, glutamic acid is an indispensable ally in achieving athletic performance. It activates the brain, thus stimulating the entire body and so – provides the result in the form of an increase in muscle mass. In addition, the immune system requires this substance, for it has antiviral and antibacterial properties. It’s believed that glutamic acid protects against a number of diseases (especially associated with cold weather).
Mind the proper dosage of the supplement. Glutamic acid should be consumed in amounts of 20-30 grams daily. Athletes having some extra hard training can increase the dosage up to 40-45 grams. Moreover, it has already been proven that even in such amounts, the amino acid is perfectly harmless. Glutamine and glutamic acid are often found combined in various supplements, so their combined use is quite common.
- Alanine is a great help for the athlete’s body. It is taken by athletes who set the task of gaining muscle mass, increasing strength and stamina. It has already been scientifically proven that alanine has a positive action on the body and really helps it to develop. And then again, it has zero side effects, thus – harmless.
Alanine usually is taken along with glutamine. Supplements of this combination can be found on the market more and more often. It comes in the form of powder. It is taken after workout, and the dosage varies depending on the peculiarities of this or that supplement.
Combined, these two substances help to increase muscle mass and stamina, as well as reduce body fat. Alanine is a powerful source of energy necessary for the restoration and growth of new tissues. Moreover, such supplements come rather cheap, which makes it possible to include it in your regimen without any doubts.
- Lysine is a well-known amino acid. It is synthesized by the body and can enter the stomach together with other supplements and food. At the same time, lysine is one of the constituent elements of the muscle protein, which makes the amino acid extremely important for athletes.
Usually, lysine is part of various dietary supplements and sports nutrition. Taking it provides for muscle growth acceleration, skeletal system and joints strengthening, nitrogen metabolism optimization and recovery rate increase. For the athletes experiencing severe training stress, this compound will definitely come in handy.
The combo of lysine and glutamine is a win due to the fact that they enhance each other’s action. Lysine increases endurance and working capacity, while glutamine increases muscle growth. That is why these two components most often find their place in most sports supplements.
- Ornithine is an amino acid that is well known in bodybuilding and helps to improve athletic performance. Unlike a number of other amino acids, ornithine is not part of proteins. Its feature is the presence in the body as a separate component. Ornithine is often taken as a supplement due to its assumed anabolic and anti-catabolic properties. However, such actions of amino acids have not been scientifically proven yet.
In addition to everything said above, glutamine is often used together with acetyl and glycine.
